Focal Points Found - Off the Wall Friday

"What's the Focal Point of your piece?"

Huh??  Welllllll......ummmmmm..........this section  here?????

Let me tell you, this is NOT the answer you want to give a teacher or viewer of your art.  I mean, the focal point is  the area  around which the rest of the composition is centered and where you want your viewer's eye to rest.    So you should have an idea where it is!  Okay, I get that buttttttt. . . .
Achieving it is a whole different story!

So let's take a look at how the "Greats" managed to create a great focal point!

1.   Value Contrast

In the his painting, The Third of May 1808, Francisco Goya, uses the lightest value of the man's shirt to emphasis the point of the painting - the horrors of war. Notice the layers of how he used light.  The man is super light, around him is a bunch of darker values and then around that is light again.  Your eye can't help but rest there!

2.  Color Contrast

Notice how Renoir uses the colors, red and yellow, to bring your eye right to the most interesting part of Dance of Bougival.....how enamored the man is with the woman he's dancing with.

3.  Convergence 

 Notice how all the lines converge to Christ's head in The Last Supper by Leonard de Vinci.  Some are obvious - some are subtle - all converge.

4.  The Unusual

The Son of a Man, Rene Magritte -   Enough Said!

5.  People, Animals, Vehicles

Because they are so relatable, people, animals and vehicles make great focal points.  The Scream by Edvard Munch is a perfect example of it.  Of course, its also an example of convergence, value, isolation and the usual.  I guess Munch really wanted us to look at the screamer!!

6. Isolation

 In Andrew Wyeth's Christina's World, the girl is set alone away from the farm with our eye resting on her.  Also notice he uses value contrast and a person which also makes this such an iconic focal point.

The next time you're at an art museum, start searching out the focal points in each piece and why they are the focal point.  You'll be amazed at how much you learn from playing this game and hopefully this will be helpful the next time you're trying to create a focal point in your own work!

So What Have You Been Up to Creatively?